Shocking course fee price rises at UCLAN

[Oddsocks]

Noticed that the UCLAN Certificate of Higher Education in Astronomy has just doubled in price for each module (you need six modules for the Cert HE).

Last year price per module was £470 so the full Cert HE ~£2,800 (ex inflation), this year price per module £1000, full Cert HE now ~£6000 (ex inflation).

I would love to hear how they can justify that kind of price rise, I wonder how much of a pay increase they have given themselves this year.

[Piero]

I asked a similar question many times throughout my 7 years in the UK. It seems that the answers I have received vary depending on the status of the academic chap.. Younger project leaders generally told me that fees are absurdly high. On the other hand more senior leaders told me that high fees are required for maintaining high standards. Weirdly, a degree in Medicine (which required a lot of practical and expensive courses) can cost as much as a degree in Literature, despite the fact that an MD will eventually earn considerably more and therefore will be able to pay back his/her student loan with less sacrifice.

I am not convinced courses will become cheaper in a post-brexit era, particularly because 1) the UK will stop receiving research funding from the EU and 2) all the EU students will become oversea students. The former point will have heavy consequences for research. The latter will eventually reduce the number of EU students coming to study in the UK (either because no longer funded by the EU for studying in the UK, or because fees will double for them). In one way or the other (or both), to me the UK academic system will eventually receive less money and to maintain a world leading position in research, tuition fees will increase. As final consequence of this increase in fees, people from lower classes will less be able to afford a university degree, and this will only consolidate the social class system.

Just my 2c.